Joshua Belcher

January 26, 2007

Rejecting its previous determination as arbitrary and capricious, a judge has ordered the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to reevaluate a petition to list the Siskiyou Mountains and Scott Bar salamanders as either threatened or endangered. On Friday, January 19, U.S District Court Judge William Alsup gave the Service two months to issue a new 90-day finding.

Because Scott Bar salamanders have no lungs and breathe through their skin, moist habitat is essential to the salamanders' survival. They live on talus outcrops under the canopy of old-growth trees ranging from the Applegate River drainage in southern Oregon to the Klamath River watershed in northern California.

In June 2004, the Center for Biological Diversity first petitioned the Service to list the salamanders as either threatened or endangered, citing logging and wildfires as primary threats. USFWS initially demurred, claiming a lack of funding hindered proper investigation. After threat of suit, the agency agreed to proceed with a finding.

Under Section 4 of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the USFWS is required to determine whether a species is threatened or endangered as a result of present or threatened habitat destruction, overuse, disease or predation, the inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms, or other natural or manmade factors. Such a determination must be made on the basis of the best scientific and commercial data available. Ultimately denying the petition, however, the agency explained it had insufficient information to proceed.

Viewing the petition's denial as a thinly veiled concession to the timber industry, conservation groups challenged. The suit was brought by a coalition of those which originally petitioned for the listing, including the Center for Biological Diversity, the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, the Environmental Protection Information Center, Oregon Wild, and the Cascadia Wildlands Project. Judge Alsup, who had previous experience with salamander listing petitions, rejected USFWS's rationale, asserting that the record adequately warranted listing.

Given the court's position on the record, it is unlikely that the Service will be able to maintain a position that listing is unwarranted. A subsequent 12-month review of the salamanders' status will likely be required to determine whether listing is actually warranted.

For more information:

Endangered Species Act of 1973, 16 USCA § 1531–37, 1537a, 1538–44 (2000).

Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, No. C04-04324 WHA, 2005 WL 2000928 (N.D. Cal. Aug. 19, 2005) (reviewing an action to protect the California tiger salamander).

"90-Day Finding of a Petition to List the Siskiyou Mountains Salamander and Scott Bar Salamander as Threatened or Endangered," 71 Fed. Reg. 23,886 (April 25, 2006).

Terrence Chea, Judge Orders Review of Salamander Status, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 20, 2007, available at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Salamander_Protection.html.

Press Release, Center for Biological Diversity, Court Rules Rare Salamanders Were Illegally Denied Protection Under the Endangered Species Act (January 19, 2007), available at http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd/press/scott-bar-salamander-01-19-2007.html.

Center for Biological Diversity, http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/swcbd.

Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center, http://www.kswild.org.

Environmental Protection Information Center, http://www.wildcalifornia.org.

Oregon Wild, http://www.oregonwild.org.

Cascadia Wildlands Project, http://www.cascwild.org.